Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-09-27
HYgienic Drawbacks.

"A San Jose paper nypOcrlt1callS
says:
One conspicuous merit in the Los
Angeles papers is their frankness.
They hold back nothing local that
needs criticism from any cowardly
fear of exposing detective city man
agement to outsiders and thus deter
ring immigration. At the same time
we cannot, in duty to our own locality,
allow some defects of Los Angeles as
a city to pass without notice, so far as
we find them clearly and courageously
set forth in its local press. We do this
not with any desire to injure Los An
geles, but simply to show that San
Jose as place of residence has points
of superiority, while we concede to
certain classes of business men there
a marked advantage in enterprise and
far-sightedness over similar classes
here. Every one who has been in
both Los Angeles and San Jose knows
that the crooked, and narrow and i'll
paved streets the of southern city are in
marked contrast with the straight,
broad and Ito large extent) we'll
paved streets of San Jose.
All the aboves is mere moonshine,
including the charge that our streets
are crooked, narrow and i'll paved. Now
as matter of fact there are not more
than three or four crooked streets in
Los Angeles, and excepting Spring
street these are not important. That
one is the second in importance, and
perhaps may remain so but its
crookedness in nowise impairs its use
fulness. During ninety-seven one
hundredths OF its course it is
straight and deviates from the
line of rectitude merely at
both ends where it forms junction
with Main street. AS to the thorough
fares of this city being narrow, the
statement is notoriously incorrect.
The usual width of our streets is sixty
feet, and a good many run to eighty
and hundred feet wide. Our streets,
while not generally paved, are, ex-
cepting in very bad weather, decidedly
good-as gooi as in any city in the
State. After heavy rain of long con-
tinuance they do get slushy, and then
we all, in our impatience, utter great
deal of very severe comment upon
their condition. Now this is all being
changed. and before the winter sets
in the center of the city will have
well paved streets.
Our kind northern contemporary
makes a communication in the col
umns of our neighbor, the Tribune,
of this city, the text for these amin ad-
versions upon our affairs. Upon that
letter he goes on to say:
The Tribune calls attention to the
want OF parks (of which San Jose has
some, but perhaps not enough; the
absence of alleys, where refuse can
be conveniently handled; the tenden-
CIV to "crowding and building resi-
dences together" and the short-sighted
policy OF "laying out narrow streets"
for the wholesale dissemination of
disease.
He then quotes from the Los An
geles paper as follows:
Now, what if the native Californians
did camp on trails on the original site
of Los Angeles, and permitted zig-zag
lines, angles and corners-and no
alleys? Shall the enlightened Anglo
Saxon go on the same way? Shall
trails be called streets Gd tnfnituni !!
Only reflect how much could have
been done for the improvement Of
streets, with generous alleys and
parks of liberal size. Will reform
in this direction set in now? Quien
sabe?
There is not fact in the condition
or plan OF this city to justify
the blundering remarks quoted
We need more parks, but we
are as well off in this respec
as any city of our size in the State
What city is provided with alleys te
gather garbage in? Little bucolit
places like San Jose, which must al
ways be content to rank as mere
country towns, may have alleys; but II
large commercial cities space is toe
valuable. As to "crowding and build
ing residences together" only q
drunken man or escaped lunatic will
make such statement. The
usual building lot here is
GOxl65 feet, and few of us
viii build on less; most of US want
.and SECURE more for our home. And